Pastor Bakare Declares For President, May Choose El-Rufai As Running-Mate

Founder of the Citadel Global Community Church, Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has announced that he will be aspiring to be the flag-bearer of the All Progressive Congress come 2023 presidential election.

He disclosed this on Saturday during the “Unveiling Project 16 to Nigerians in Diaspora” virtual program monitored by our correspondent.

When asked whether he will be running for president, he said he will, adding that the APC, which he played a role in forming, will be his political platform.

“But by God’s grace, as we have been meeting together with friends and leaders in our nation in the past few years , it is looking much more like we will definitely be in the fore front of the battle for the salvation of our nation in 2023.

“If you are asking me a direct question, a direct answer will be yes.

“And if you are asking for what party? It was my privilege to move the motion for the emergence of APC, the motion for the merger between CPC, ACN and ANPP on February 6 2013. I have never been part of any other party apart from that and by God’s grace that will be the party that I will seek opportunity to serve and to lead my nation,” he said.

Bakare was also asked if he is looking to have the Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-rufai as his running mate.

He did not say yes or no but rather praised the governor and asked his supporters to wait till after he gets the party ticket.

“Will El-RUfai be your running mate? At this stage, you cannot jump into that, because you need to get the ticket first and the circumstances that will produce the ticket will definitely yield to who the running mate will be.

“El-rufai is one of the great leaders in our nation, who is facing a lot of storms today but at the same time has done quite well in his own way either as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and now as a two term governor of Kaduna state. We must be the carriers of that ticket before we can settle on who will be the running mate,” he said.

Earlier, Bakare opined that with the right kind of leadership, Nigeria would evolve into a great nation.

“In the coming year 2023 by God’s grace, Nigerians will be heading to the poll to elect a president for the seventh time in the context of the fourth Republic.

“This transition which is expected to usher in the 16th administration since our country gained independence since 1960, provides us with an opportunity to reconcile ourselves with the dreams of our founding leaders and reconstruct Nigeria into a truly great nation,” he said.

Recall that Bakare ran as running mate of the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, when he ran for president in 2011.

That election was won by Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party.